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Tuesday, 31 July 2012

New Delhi, July 31 (CMC) Hundreds of millions of people across India were left without power on Tuesday in one of the world's worst blackouts, trapping miners, stranding train travellers and plunging hospitals into darkness when grids collapsed for the second time in two days.

Stretching from Assam to the Himalayas and the northwestern deserts of Rajasthan, the outage covered states where half of India's 1.2 billion people live and embarrassed the government, which has failed to build up enough power capacity to meet soaring demand.

"Even before we could figure out the reason for yesterday's failure, we had more grid failures today," said R.N. Nayak, chairman of the state-run Power Grid Corporation.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had vowed to fast-track stalled power and infrastructure projects as well as introduce free market reforms aimed at reviving India's flagging economy. But he has drawn fire for dragging his feet.

By nightfall, power was back up in the humid capital, New Delhi and much of the north, but a senior official said only a third was restored in the rural state of Uttar Pradesh.

The cuts in such a widespread area of the world's second most populous nation appeared to be one of the biggest in history, and hurt Indians' pride as the country seeks to emerge as a major force on the international stage.

"They talk about big ticket reforms but can't get something as essential as power supply right, a student said."

Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde blamed the system collapse on some states drawing more than their share of electricity from the over-burdened grid, but Uttar Pradesh's top civil servant for energy said outdated transmission lines were at fault.

Asia's third-largest economy suffers a peak-hour power deficit of about 10 percent, dragging on economic growth.

Between a quarter and 40 percent of Indians are not connected to the national grid.

Two hundred miners were stranded in three deep coal shafts in the state of West Bengal when their electric elevators stopped working. Eastern Coalfields Limited official Niladri Roy said workers at the mines, one of which is 700 metres (3,000 feet) deep, were not in danger and were being taken out.

Train stations in Kolkata were swamped and traffic jammed the streets after government offices closed early in the dilapidated coastal city of 5 million people.

The power failed in some major city hospitals and office buildings had to fire up diesel generators.

By mid-evening, services had been restored on the New Delhi metro system.

"PUSHED INTO DARKNESS"

On Monday, India was forced to buy extra power from the tiny neighbouring kingdom of Bhutan to help it recover from a blackout that hit more than 300 million people.

Indians took to social networking sites to ridicule the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, in part for promoting Shinde despite the power cuts.

Narendra Modi, an opposition leader and chief minister in Gujarat, a state that enjoys a surplus of power, was scornful.

"With poor economic management UPA has emptied the pockets of common man; kept stomachs hungry with inflation & today pushed them into darkness," he said on his Twitter account.

The country's southern and western grids were supplying power to help restore services, officials said.

The problem has been made worse by a weak monsoon in agricultural states such as wheat-belt Punjab and Uttar Pradesh in the Ganges plain, which has a larger population than Brazil.

With less rain to irrigate crops, more farmers resort to electric pumps to draw water from wells.

India's electricity distribution and transmission is mostly state run, with private companies operating in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. Less than a quarter of generation is private nationwide.

More than half the country's electricity is generated by coal, with hydro power and nuclear also contributing.

Power shortages and a creaky road and rail network have weighed heavily on India's efforts to industrialize. Grappling with the slowest economic growth in nine years, the government recently scaled back a target to pump $1 trillion into infrastructure over the next five years.

Major industries have their own power plants or diesel generators and are shielded from outages. But the inconsistent supply hits investment and disrupts small businesses.

High consumption of heavily subsidized diesel by farmers and businesses has fuelled a gaping fiscal deficit that the government has vowed to tackle to restore confidence in the economy.

But the poor monsoon means a subsidy cut is politically difficult.

On Tuesday, the central bank cut its economic growth outlook for the fiscal year that ends in March to 6.5 percent, from the 7.3 percent assumption made in April, putting its outlook closer to that of many private economists.

"This is going to have a substantial adverse impact on the overall economic activity. Power failure for two consecutive days hits sentiment very badly," said N. Bhanumurthy, a senior economist at National Institute of Public Finance and Policy.

New Delhi, July 31 (CMC) In a minor reshuffle in the Union Cabinet, albeit involving top portfolios, senior Congress leader Sushil Kumar Shinde on Tuesday was allocated the Home Ministry.

P Chidambaram, who was the Home Minister took over as the Finance Minister.

Corporate Affairs Minister M Veerappa Moily was given the additional charge of Power Ministry, a portfolio held by Shinde so far.

A communiqué to this effect was issued by the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Sindhe, a 71-year-old Dalit leader from Maharashtra is a known loyalist of the Gandhi family. This his first tryst as the Home Minister.

He is also tipped to be among the favourites to be named as the Leader of the House in Lok Sabha.

66-year-old Chidambaram returns to the Finance Ministry after more than three-and-a-half years. He was moved from Finance Ministry to Home Ministry in December 2008 in the wake of Mumbai terror attacks.

Chidambaram has taken charge of the Finance Ministry at a time when the economy is witnessing sluggishness and a scare has been created among foreign investors by some decisions on tax issues.

He will have the challenge of restoring the confidence among the foreign investors besides taming inflation and ensuring return to high economic growth.

Moily was given the additional charge of Power Ministry on a day when three transmission grids -- Northern, Eastern and North-eastern -- collapsed leaving half of the 1.2 billion population of the country paralysed.

The reshuffle of portfolios is seen as a precursor to a major overhaul in the Union Cabinet possibly after the Monsoon Session, when Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi expected to be inducted.

The reshuffle of portfolios had been necessitated by the exit of Pranab Mukherjee, who held the portfolio of Finance Ministry before getting elected as the President.

Mukherjee resigned as the Finance Minister on June 26 and since then the Prime Minister himself was looking after the portfolio.

Northern and Eastern power grids fail, hundreds of trains come to a halt

Clean Media Correspondent

New Delhi, July 31 (CMC) The entire northern and eastern power girds collapsed on Tuesday afternoon, knocking off electricity in eastern India and shutting Metro trains in Delhi. West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, Orissa, Jammu, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan and national capital are affected by the power failure.

The power crisis follows Monday's monster blackout triggered by the collapse of the entire northern grid, affecting more than 300 million people. Eight states in north India witnessed the decade's worst ever power crisis for more than 15 hours on Monday as the northern grid collapsed at 2 am. Even the Capital stayed unplugged for 10 hours.

Power shortages and a creaky road and rail network have weighed heavily on the country's efforts to industrialize. Faced with a slump in the economy, New Delhi recently scaled back a target to pump $1 trillion into infrastructure over the next five years.

Chaos reigned on Delhi's always-hectic roads on Monday as stop lights failed and thousands of commuters abandoned the metro.

New Delhi, 30 July (CMC) Delhi woke up to a Monday without any electricity. Metro trains weren't running, so commuters hit the roads, where traffic lights weren't working because of a massive power outage across North India. At 9 am, attendance was sparse at activist Anna Hazare's protest camp in the capital. But perhaps because it was overcast and cool in Delhi as 75-year-old Anna entered the second day of his hunger strike, or because the Left had called a demonstration against rising food prices at the same location, a few hours later it was house-full at Anna's venue, Jantar Mantar. The crowd didn't diminish through the day, holding steady at about 10,000 people. Anna spoke firmly about the Lokpal Bill, the anti-corruption legislation that he says the government has no intent of delivering to a people tired of immense and sordid graft. "The way this wave of protest against corruption is building in the country, I get the feeling that this government will have to bring a strong Lokpal Bill or else it will have to go," he warned.

His closest aides continued to focus on the ministers and politicians they accuse of corruption. "People praise him for introducing development," said activist Arvind Kejriwal, now on day 6 of his hunger strike. He was referring to Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi. "Do you see him as the future of India?" he asked. Mr Modi appears to be the latest expression of the differences within Anna's core group. Against the advice of his closest aides, Anna agreed to share the stage twice this month with yoga icon Baba Ramdev, who is seen as strongly affiliated to the opposition BJP. On Friday, Baba Ramdev appeared at Anna's camp, bringing with him a few thousand followers who exited when he did, demonstrating that Anna may not have miscalculated the pros of a collaboration. But then Baba Ramdev went to Gujarat, and shared the stage with Mr Modi, offering generous praise of the chief minister and BJP leader. In Delhi, some Team Anna members reacted with anger, calling Mr Modi "a murderer of humanity" -a reference to the allegations that the chief minister was complicit in the communal riots that ravaged Gujarat in 2002. This morning, another Anna aide Kiran Bedi denied that Baba Ramdev had embarrassed the anti-corruption activists. She said that just as Team Anna meets leaders of the Opposition, Baba Ramdev cannot be faulted for meeting BJP leaders or others. Anna and his activists want the government to ensure that the anti-corruption Lokpal Bill is cleared by Parliament urgently. The bill was passed by the Lok Sabha in December, but was stalled in the Rajya Sabha. It creates a Lokpal - a new national ombudsman agency- empowered to investigate charges of corruption against government servants. Last year, a 16-day fast by Anna in Delhi forced the government to promise him that the Lokpal Bill would be debated in Parliament in its Winter Session. This time around, sources say, the government does not plan to enter discussions or negotiations with the activists. Since it began its protest in Delhi on July 25, Team Anna has been trying to provoke the sort of fervour that moved thousands of middle-class Indians to march on the streets last year, demanding the Lokpal Bill championed by Anna. But equally public are the differences within those who work most closely with Anna.Anna's aides like Mr Kejriwal are campaigning for the government to authorise an independent investigation against the Prime Minister and 14 of his senior cabinet ministers. Team Anna has accused these ministers of graft. Among them, is former Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who was sworn in as the 13th President of India last weekend. The government has refused to set up a Special Investigating Team (SIT) to study the activists' charges against the ministers. Anna does not want the "black-listed" ministers to distract from the Lokpal Bill. He has also said, contradicting aides like Mr Kejriwal, that with Mr Mukherjee now in the top constitutional office in the country, it is no longer kosher to question his integrity.

London, July 30 (CMC) Ace shooter Gagan Narang won India's first medal at the London Olympics today by winning a bronze medal as Beijing gold medalist Abhinav Bindra crashed out in the qualifing round.

Earlier, Beijing Games gold medallist Abhinav Bindra had crashed out of the 10m air rifle event at the London Olympics with a dismal display in the qualifying rounds, but compatriot Gagan Narang kept alive India's hopes by advancing to the medal round here.

Bindra, who scripted history four years ago by becoming the country's first-ever individual gold medallist in the Olympics, shot 594 out of 600 to finish a shocking 16th out of 47 competitors and lost the golden chance of becoming the world's first shooter to win two successive gold medals at the mega event.

However, Narang kept India in the hunt by finishing third with 598, a point behind world number 1 Niccolo Campriani of Italy and Romania's Moldoveanu Alin George, who both shot an Olympic record-equalling 599 to stand first and second in the qualifying round at the Royal Artillery Barracks.

Shiv Sainiks deomnstrate at Shringar Gauri and try to do Jalabhishek at Varanasi, arrested

All the photographs by Somit Bardhan

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Sanjay Singh/ Clean Media Correspondent

Varanasi, July 30 (CMC) Hundreds of Shiv Sainiks were today arrested while trying to worship the holy Shringar Gauri temple in the world famous Kashi Vishwanath temple compound.The Shiv Sainiks, numbering over five hundred, in the leadership of the District President Gulshan Kapoor tried to enter the Kashi Vishwanath Temple premisis and worship the goddess but heavy deployment of the police force stopped them outside the temple and they were arrested.Gulshan Kapoor told Clean Media that it is an old shrine of Goddess and Hindus are not allowed to worship the shrine.The Shivsena tries to do the Jalabhishek every year at the shrine.

London, July 30 (CMC) If you were perplexed by the sight of a casually dressed woman marching next to the Indian flag-bearer during London’s triumphant Olympics opening ceremony, the mystery has been solved.

It wasn't an unsettling breach of security, merely an example of an over-excited cast member who wanted her 15 minutes of fame. And the world was watching.

She had no business to walk in with the Indian contingent and we are taking up the issue with the organisers. We don’t know who she is and why she was allowed to walk in. It is a shame that she was with the athletes in the march past

Indian Olympic officials are miffed about how the woman managed to march with the country’s delegation during the athletes' parade.

The woman has been identified as Madhura Nagendra, a post-graduate student from Bangalore.

"Sources say that her friend from the college was also baffled seeing her with the Indian contingent," the a local paper reported.

"She has been living in London and before she went with the Indian team, she had displayed her Olympic passes on her Facebook account. But once this became an issue, she had deactivated her Facebook account.’’

Acting chef de mission of the Indian contingent Brig P.K. Muralidharan Raja told Clean Media that they were angry that an individual who was not part of the delegation was allowed to hog the limelight.

"She had no business to walk in with the Indian contingent and we are taking up the issue with the organisers. We don’t know who she is and why she was allowed to walk in. It is a shame that she was with the athletes in the march past," Raja said.

LOCOG chief executive Sebastian Coe emphasised that the woman’s surprise appearance was not a breach of security as she hadn’t "walked in off the street".

"I think there is a very important point here to take into consideration - and I don’t minimise the fact that she got into the opening ceremony, we will have our own discussions about that - but, of course, she could not have got on to the Olympic Park without having gone through all our security protocols anyway. So ... she should not have been in the opening ceremony but don’t run away with the idea that she sort of walked in off the street to be able to do that. She hadn’t," Coe told a media briefing.

"But yes, we will be looking at that - next time we have an opening ceremony."

New Delhi, July 30 (CMC) On day two of his indefinite fast, all eyes will be on Anna Hazare and whether the social activist can manage to pull the crowds on Monday too. More than 20000 people gathered at Delhi's Jantar Mantar on Sunday to support Anna Hazare. Around 400 Team Anna members, including Arvind Kejriwal have been on fast since Thursday. Anna supporters also gathered in large numbers at India Gate where they held a candlelight protest march. Earlier on Sunday, Anna supporters protested in front of Home Minister P Chidambaram's house in Chennai.

Anna Hazare on Sunday said the protest outside the Prime Minister's residence was a result of people's anger, but the anti-graft crusader disapproved of defacement of walls there. "How long people will tolerate? But if something like this (defacement of walls) has happened, I apologise for that. The slogans (written on walls) were inappropriate. We should think before taking any such step as people are watching our agitation," he told reporters.

Scores of Team Anna supporters on Sunday protested outside the 7, Race Course Road residence of the Prime Minister and threw coal pieces into the premises besides defacing walls. In a letter to Team Anna, police said around 100 supporters had protested outside the Prime Minister's residence, staged a snap demonstration and threw water bottles, lumps of coal, currency notes and coins inside the premises. "They were very aggressive and was removed from there only after great difficulty," the letter said requesting Team Anna members not to make any provocative speeches.

Nellore, July 30 (CMC) At least 47 people have been killed in a fire on Tamilnadu Epress train travelling in the state of Andhra Pradesh, officials said.

One S 11 coach of the Tamil Nadu Express travelling to Chennai from Delhi caught fire early on Monday. The cause of the fire is still not clear.

Officials said the death toll could rise further as there were 72 passengers in the affected coach.

The incident happened as the train was passing through Nellore station.Nellore is located 500km (310 miles) south of Hyderabad, the capital city of Andhra Pradesh.B Sridhar, head of the Nellore district administration, told Clean Media that 28 passengers travelling in the coach had been injured and taken to local hospitals.

He said an electrical short circuit could have led to the fire, and that most of the passengers were asleep when the incident happened at 04:20 local time (1050 GMT).

The affected coach was completely gutted and rescue teams had to break in using special equipment.In May, 24 people were killed when a passenger train crashed into a goods train in Andhra Pradesh state.

Train accidents in India have killed 1,220 people over the past five years, railway officials have revealed.Accidents are common on the state-owned Indian railways, an immense network connecting every corner of the country.It operates 9,000 passenger trains and carries some 18 million passengers every day.

No power in northern India for more than six hours, Metro, Rail disarrayed

Clean Media Correspondent

New Delhi, July 30 (CMC) There has been a massive power breakdown in northern India; it's the worst northern grid failure since 2001. The power failure has majorly hit metro services in Delhi, Railway services along with the water and electricity supply across seven states in north India.

There has been no power in seven states - Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal - since 2.30 last night, when the northern grid collapsed and the Metro rail at Delhi and over three hundred trains in the Northern India have got stranded here and there.

The power ministry says it will take 10 to 12 hours for the situation to return to normal.Delhi's metro service was not running this morning, leaving thousands of rush-hour passengers scrambling. The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation or the DMRC however says 60 per cent trains are now running.Delhi's six water treatment plants were shut since power failed; five of them are now operational. All Delhi Jal Board water pumping stations have also been affected. Power companies are giving priority to the Jal Board.Traffic signals in Delhi were also down. The Traffic Police says that the areas where power has not been restored will be physically manned till the situation is normal.Essential services at the Delhi airport have been shifted to generator mode. There is back- up to last 48 hours.AIIMS and the Prime Minister's house are on hydel power so they are functional. Preliminary enquiry shows the collapse happened due to a fault near Agra.All NTPC, state generator units tripped. The collapse led to an auto shut down of all power generation across seven north Indian states.In Uttar Pradesh, none of the NTPC or state units are on stream till now.

Nellore, July 30 (CMC) A major fire broke out in S 11 bogy of New Delhi-Chennai Tamil Nadu Express near Nellore in Andhra Pradesh early today. Six people are said have died in the incident and the toll is apprehended to rise. The incident occurred at around 4:30 am when the Nellore station manager noticed the fire in one of the boogies of the train, officials said. The train was immediately brought to a halt and the fire brigade was pressed into service and the blaze was extinguished, they said. Helpline numbers at Nellore: 0861-2345863, 864, 865, 866 and 0866-2576924; At New Delhi Station: 011-23342954, 23341072, 23341074.The cause of the fire is yet to be determined, however, it was suspected to be caused by a short circuit in the coach, they added. A relief and rescue train has already been rushed to the spot, South Central Railway (SCR) officials said. The S-11 coach had around 72 passengers, said sources. Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy has directed the district administration to provide immediate medical relief to the injured. Meanwhile, gas cutters are being used to cut through the coach and recover bodies. A help desk has been opened at the Chennai Central Station to give information on the fire. The phone numbers are 044-25357398 and 044-25330821. The helpline numbers at Nellore are 0861-2345863, 864, 865, 866 and 0866-2576924; At Secunderabad: 040–27786723, 27700868, 27786539; At Warangal: 0870-2426232, 09701371063. Meanwhile, the Northern Railway has opened helpline numbers 011-23342954, 23341072, 23341074 at New Delhi Station and 011-24359748 at Hazrat Nizamuddin Station. Meanwhile, the Indian Railway has announced Rs 5 lakh ex-gratia relief to the relatives of the dead.

Sunday, 29 July 2012

NEW DELHI, July 28 (CMC) The weekend brought some cheer to Team Anna with the crowd at Jantar Mantar swelling to over 7,000 and the prospect of a bigger gathering on Sunday as Anna Hazare himself begins a fast-unto-death. A dash to 7 Race Course Road, the Prime Minister's residence, by over 100 supporters of Team Anna — with pieces of coal in hand signifying the coal scam and coins to 'bribe' the government for setting up an SIT to probe corruption charges against ministers — signalled a distinct change in strategy.

The scene of action, however, remained Jantar Mantar, where intermittently throughout the day, reporters were given a hard time by the crowd. Media reports on the thin attendance in the past three days were pooh-poohed from the stage. Journalists were taunted, abused and, at one point, even surrounded by the crowd. "Those saying there aren't enough people at Jantar Mantar don't have the vision to see the support for the movement," said Anna.

Saturday, 28 July 2012

Olympics: Queen in a helicopter, Beckham on a boat — what more can you ask for?

Clean Media Correspondent

London, July 27 (CMC) What can you say about an opening ceremony of the Olympic Games that managed to get the queen of Britain into a helicopter with James Bond and David Beckham piloting a speedboat along the Thames river.

Director Danny Boyle spent £27 million on the opening ceremony and if anyone doubted whether or not the title "Isles of Wonder" was far-fetched, they won't now. Nor should they wonder where the money went, that was clear to see, here.

The "Isles of Wonder" may have left some people confused, but as Boyle said in his pre-ceremony briefing: "You do the show for yourselves, you have to. I try to represent the whole country.

Not just the whole country, but a whistle-stop tour through British culture from a pastoral idyll to the industrial revolution in a shift of scene which saw the fields lifted up and replaced by smoking chimneys to force five Olympic rings among the white heat of change and war. In minutes, the Olympic Stadium was filled with smokestacks and machinery, and a reflection of the social upheaval that it brought in its wake.

It was fast, dynamic and on a huge scale, perhaps on such a big scale that some segments may have been hard to see, but to criticise too much would be nit-picking.

Boyle said he had tried to reflect the values that "are honest and true", and nothing reflects that more than the British National Health service, which ensures everyone can receive free medical treatment no matter their class, wealth or status.

A dance with nurses, who all work for the NHS reflected that wonderfully, while the "sick" children provided the stage to highlight children's literature.

A glimpse at some of the characters on view -- Lord Vordemort, the Queen of Hearts, Peter Pan, the Childcatcher and the savior of the hour, Mary Poppins, who descended in multitude to vanquish the bad guys gave just a glimpse of just how many of our loved personalities have come from these eyes.

Mr.Bean was also there, as was a homage to British cinema, British family life and a run through pop-culture.

The final section of the ceremony celebrated digital communication and ran through some of the hits and TV shows of the 1960s, 70s and 80s up to the present.

The section even began to the music from long-running radio show The Archers, itself a reflection of the change these islands have undergone.

All in all, it was carried out with speed, skill and perhaps most importantly, with affection. That is how it should be.